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8Circular Internal Migration and Developmentin IndiaPriya DeshingkarOverseas Development Institute, London.1. Circular Internal Migration and Development in IndiaIt has been recognized for some time by migration experts that internalshort-term population movements ranging from daily commuting toseasonal migration have become widespread all over Asia. India is onesuch country where internal migration is more important than internationalmigration in terms of the numbers of people involved and possibly eventhe volume of remittances. Besides, temporary internal migration ismore likely to involve the poor, lower caste, and less educated and thushas large implications for poverty reduction and meeting the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs). Such movements have become a routine partof livelihood strategies for people living in marginal areas such as droughtpronevillages and forested areas and there is powerful evidence whichshows that temporary migration is growing. India is now criss-crossed allover by thousands of circular migratory routes between villages within thesame district, across districts, and across states sometimes at opposite endsof the country.But policy remains ill-informed and ill-suited to supporting people whomove around for work. This is partly to do with faulty data collectionbut also to do with urban, middle-class attitudes which are biased againstilliterate, poor, and lower-caste people, accusing them of overcrowdingcities and spreading disease, crime, and filth. Current approaches topoverty reduction have sought to create employment in rural areas andmany (such as watershed development programs) aim to reduce migration.A combination of policies that aim to keep people out of cities and keepthem in villages has resulted in millions of poor migrants not being entitledto government assistance even though they are contributing significantly toeconomic growth. While policies that seek to limit population movementswill certainly not stop people from migrating, they will obstruct a potentiallyimportant means of reducing poverty and developing marginal areas.161The focus of this paper is circular labor migration, wherein poor peoplefrom low productivity areas migrate for part of the year, often on a